Servicing

The rush to refinance led to more errors in January and the shift to more-risky purchase apps will add to lenders' fraud concerns going forward.

While foreclosure moratoria keep the overall numbers down, zombie foreclosure rates jumped in the majority of states, according to Attom Data Solutions.

With extreme winter weather about to give way to ballooning insurance and mortgage forbearance claims in Texas, servicers will need to get through their pipelines with urgency while weeding out fraud.

The agency will allow an additional three months of forbearance for loans backed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, giving homeowners up to 18 months to suspend payments due to the pandemic.

Mortgage companies are working to forge links with homeowners’ insurers to avoid delays that could compound damage to customer service and properties.

The decision provides more clarity to noteholders in the state about when the six-year statute of limitations to bring a foreclosure action begins.

Independent mortgage banker recovery drove the weekly decrease in forbearance share, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.

Moratorium extensions helped drive a weekly increase in forbearances, according to Black Knight.

But distress could be compounded in a limited number of state and local areas that have been left out of the broader boom in the market, an Urban Institute report found.

Both in terms of interest expense and the sheer cost of dealing with consumers, the mortgage industry is out hundreds of millions of dollars due to this unfunded mandate from Congress, analyst Chris Whalen says.